Colorful night skies

 The opening act on Thursday evening was the setting of Jupiter and Venus behind Bristol Head.  The separation between these two planets is slowly decreasing toward a close conjunction on 08 June.

Jupiter (L) and Venus (R).  Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.5

 Near the end of astronomical twilight, the giant globular cluster Omega Centauri can be seen skimming the southern horizon.

Omega Centauri over Piedra Peak.  Vivitar S1 90mm

 A wider view taken about 40 minutes later shows just how low the cluster is in the sky:

Omega Centauri (circled).  OM 20mm f/1.4 + sparkle-6 filter

 This wider view also reveals layers of colorful airglow.  The measured sky brightness directly overhead was sqml=21.51 mpsas, which is a good but not great value.  Airglow is the likely explanation for this brighter sky, compared to measurements in mid-May, which were near 21.8.  The airglow really stands out in pictures of the rising Milky Way.

Scorpius and Milky Way rising above Snowshoe Mountain. OM 20mm + softon

 The airglow presents as moving ripples of color in the sky, visible to the camera but not to the eye.  

 

Milky Way rising before midnight

 The forecast was for cloud cover until past midnight, but at 11 pm there were large sections of clear sky.  This image was obtained a half hour before midnight as the Milky Way was rising over the ridgeline of Snowshoe Mountain.  

Sony A7iii camera and Rokinon 135mm f/2.0 Nikon-AE lens.  ISO 1600, 30 sec.

 There is some green airglow blending with the red star clouds of the Milky Way.  In the upper left are the Eagle (M16) and Omega (M17) nebulas.  Moving down to the right there is the Sagittarius Star Cloud (M24) and then the Trifid (M20) and Lagoon (M8) Nebulas (or Nebulae, for the traditionalists).  The star cluster M23 is near the top middle edge.

The Trifid (M20) and Lagoon (M8) Nebulas

 

Blue Moonlight

 The rising Blue Moon on Sunday night was lighting up the mountain ridges while the river valley remained in deep shadow.  Venus and Jupiter are the two bright stars setting behind Bristol Head.  Lens: Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4 + Hoya Sparkle-6 filter.

 

Blue Moon

 The first full moon of May, known as the "Flower Moon", occurred on 01 May.  This year there was a second full moon in May.  It happened at 2:45 am MDT on 31 May (today), and could be seen rising on the evening of 30 May (last night).  The second full moon of the month is known (by one definition) as a "Blue Moon".  The Moon reaches apogee (farthest from Earth) about 18 hours later, so this full moon is also called a "Micro Moon".

These images were obtained with a Sightron infini D50 refractor on 30 May.  Official moonrise was 8:20 pm MDT, but the low arc traced by the Moon means that it didn't begin to peek through the trees above Snowshoe Mountain until about 1 hour 50 minutes later.

anticipation....

  

almost...

Evening stars

 The Evening Star (Venus) and False Evening Star (Jupiter) shine brightly over Bristol Head during twilight:

Panasonic Leica 25mm + sparkle filter

 The ridgeline is lit up by the 11.9-day waxing moon:

Rokinon 135mm f/2

 The Moon:

Sightron infini D50 + 1.5x MDB

 

Twilight Moon and planets

 Last night the 9.0-day moon was just past first quarter and lighting up the landscape during twilight.  The Sightron infini D50 refractor (540 mm focal length) was used to capture this image:

 Jupiter and Venus are currently just under 16 deg apart as they sink behind Bristol Head in the west.  On June 8–9 they will be separated by less than 2 deg.

Jupiter (UL) and Venus (LR) over Bristol Head

 The lens used for this image and the next was a Vivitar Series 1 VMC 90mm f/2.5 macro.

Auriga setting over Bristol Head.  Vivitar 90mm + softon filter

 

The Moon and Venus

The 2.6-day crescent moon was 2-1/2 deg from Venus as they set over Bristol Head on Monday night. 

150 mm, ISO 400, 1-sec exposure.